If you're a software or technology professional in Lane County, come on by the Software Association of Oregon's Lane County Chapter meeting this evening. As described in the press release, Dan White, the CTO of Pipeworks Software will be speaking. Pipeworks is part of Foundation 9 Entertainment, the largest independent game developer in North America. Should be an interesting talk. I wonder what they're doing for security? If you're in the area, come on by and meet more of your local colleagues.

Context: Bruce Schneier recently made a stir when he mentioned that his home wireless access point is open to anyone to use.

No. Secure your home wireless access point using WPA or whatever happens to be current, effective, and available at the time you read this.

Schneier keeps his home network open for one reason: politeness. He feels that providing "internet access to guests is kind of like providing heat and electricity, or a hot cup of tea." I have no argument with this, but it doesn't mean your home network needs to be open. You can provide an open guest network and still keep your home network secured. The rest of this post goes into more detail.

Dedication

My grandfather had a wonderful shop in his basement. To me, it was a place of mystery and fascination, and I would spend hours wandering through it, looking at all the tools and projects in various states of completion. Not being much of a wood worker, I've never had the need for such a shop (not to mention that I lack a basement), but recently it occurs to me that my gear, computers, and software are my shop. This site is for my late grandfather and everyone else who takes personal pride in carefully executed work.